Keep You Here
by forgetfulelephant
Summary: This story was originally published on ao3, and I am the author. A story of an Inkling and an Octoling.
1. Chapter 1

The Inkling smiled as she made her way back from another turf war. She'd won, and bought herself a cute new hat with some of her winnings. Although it wasn't every day that she shed money on such mundane items as hats, the hat was too adorable. Besides, she kind of got the feeling that the clownfish in the clerk's anemone hair would say something mean if she didn't.

Coral - the Inkling - was tired now, though, as it was late, and she'd decided to call it a day and head back home. She found that battling at Mahi Mahi resort drained her - probably because of the amount of times she fell in the water.

The sun was touching the horizon, illuminating the clouds around it. The sky shone red. It was sunset, and it was quite a beautiful one too. On a normal day, Coral would be busy with her eyes transfixed to the sky but, as she was about to find out, this was not a normal day. Instead of the sky, something else had caught her eye.

As she left the plaza, the Inkling had to pass several dark alleyways, and it was then that she stopped. A shadow flitted across the brick wall, and Coral found herself suddenly bursting with both fear and curiosity.

She wasn't (that) stupid, she at least knew that wandering down dark alleyways this late was stupid and dangerous. But... there was something pulling her towards the shadows, luring her to what was probably her death.

Something reckless surged inside her, and she stepped bravely towards the alley's entrance.

Out of the corner of her eye, the Octoling sensed movement. She whipped her head around and flattened herself against the wall.

Peeking out from behind it, she caught a glimpse of an Inkling. Panic rose in her chest, but she supressed it, clutching onto her stolen gun with both hands. This was what she was born for, right? This was the reason she existed. To kill the Inklings.

Granted, it wasn't really a pleasant existence, but she never let that get the best of her during a situation like this. Especially now that she was in enemy territory. She couldn't let her guard down, what with a (probably armed) Inkling a few feet away.

She lived for this, didn't she - what was she waiting for?

Alda dived out from behind the wall and aimed her gun at the Inkling's face. It all happened so fast, she doubted it had any time to react.

The gravel crunched under her knees, startlingly loud. It seemed to awaken the Inkling to the danger, as it took a step back. Alda used this to her advantage, taking aim and firing a rapid succession of metal bullets at the silhouette of the Inkling.

It seemed to have good reflexes, though, as it dropped to the ground, bullets whooshing over its head. A few nicked its tentacles, but otherwise it was unharmed. Alda scowled. She was hoping the Inkling would go down in one shot, but already it had begun to rise, appearing to be almost unaffected.

Alda quickly reloaded the gun and sent another round at the squid. The Inkling wasn't as lucky this time, catching a bullet in the shoulder and staggering.

Feeling a swell of triumph in her chest, she raised her gun again. Intending to shoot once more, Alda pulled the trigger. But - to her dismay - the gun gave a defeated 'click', signalling that the chamber had been emptied. Alda was out of bullets.

Giving a frustrated groan, she gave up, deciding to take a different approach. The Inkling had backed up even further, clearly affected by its injuries. Using this to her advantage, Alda took a swift step forward and slammed the butt of the shotgun into the Inkling's head, sending it crashing to the ground. It was completely defenceless now and completely at Alda's mercy.

Alda stared in shock down at the defeated creature. Never before in her life had Alda taken the life of another. She wasn't a commander, or even a very powerful Octoling. She was a private, a nobody. Anybody at her level would be elated to find an Inkling at their mercy. Imagine if everyone back home found out! Alda the Inkling Slayer!

Alda the... murderer.

She took a step back. She couldn't do it. There was an Inkling lying at her feet, injured, terrified, completely helpless; it wouldn't be hard to end its life. But... this wasn't splatting someone. There would be no respawning, no coming back from the dead. Alda shuddered.

Sure, she'd splatted Inklings before. Countless times. She relished in trapping them, watching them getting stuck in the ink, then sending them back where they came from. She'd splatted that ridiculous pain-in-the-arse Agent 3 before, too.

But this... this was murder, plain and simple. Alda couldn't do it. She ran.

Coral laid in the darkness for what seemed like an eternity. There were no sounds except for the howling of the wind, the rustling of trees and the unsteady beating of her heart.

Slowly, the Inkling lifted a trembling hand to touch the wound on her shoulder, and it came away sticky with blood.

Coral let her hand fall back to her side. She'd never seen a weapon like that before, one that didn't shoot ink. Those weren't allowed in Inkopolis - but, she guessed, her assailant wasn't from Inkopolis.

Speaking of her assailant, how had it gotten into Inkopolis? Where there more? What were its plans? Coral squeezed her eyes shut. She dreaded what this would mean for her home. Would it escalate from here, would she be seeing entire troops of Octarians razing her city to the ground in the near future?

No, that was a stupid thought. Besides, the Octoling hadn't killed her. Why didn't it kill her if it planned on destroying Inkopolis?

...Why didn't it kill her? Surely it wanted to. The opportunity was right there, Coral was completely helpless, the Octoling could've very easily ended her life.

Well, for whatever reason it fled, Coral was glad. She didn't particularly want to be turned into sushi.

It was after the stars had begun to shine and Coral's blood had long matted to her shirt that the Inkling finally regained the energy and willpower to sit up. It was painful, but after carefully inspecting the wound, Coral deemed it not too severe. The bullet had only nicked her shoulder and although it hurt like hell, there was only minimal bleeding. Thus, she went home. It took her a while, and she fell over more than once, but she made it back in one piece. She cleaned and dressed her wound, did a little tidying up, had some dinner, and went to bed.

Funnily enough, now that she was home, her injuries were attended to, and she was safe, she found that she was unable to sleep. The events that had occured weighed on her mind, and Coral shifted uncomfortably in bed. This was going to be a long night.

Alda punched the nearest wall, hard. Why hadn't she killed that damn Inkling? It was right there! It was the perfect opportunity to properly strike down her first Inkling, and she had let it go to waste.

Nursing her hand, Alda leant back against the wall she'd just punched and sighed. She wondered where the Inkling was now, whether it'd gotten home safe or died of its injuries. Despite Alda having been the one to inflict them, she felt... bad.

Did everyone feel like this when they hurt someone? Alda didn't know. But, whatever it was she was feeling, the Octoling didn't like it one bit. She fervently wished she was back home, where it was normal and she was safe and she didn't have to worry about Inklings or getting food or where she would sleep that night.

Speaking of where she would sleep that night, where _would_ she sleep that night? It was cold, and dark, and damp, and - Alda stopped herself. There was no need to get worked up about it. She would simply find somewhere to sleep, and make do with it. She wasn't a baby, she wasn't going to fuss around and make a big deal of it. She was a warrior and warriors... evidently slept in the garbage.

Shuddering, Alda made her way over to one of the more shadowy parts of the alley, pulled a discarded tarpaulin over her head and sat down on the ground. This, Alda found, was extremely unpleasant.

She found herself envious of the bugs crawling around on the brick walls. At least some of them could fly away from their problems. But no, not Alda. Alda had to sleep in crappy conditions with a muddy tarpaulin over her head and cold wind stealing any warmth from her body.

This was going to be a long night.


	2. Chapter 2

Coral was pretty sure she should be resting at home right now, but she needed to get some more food in (you can never have enough food), so she'd decided to do a little grocery shopping. It couldn't hurt, right?

The shop was strangely quiet today. Seemed as if everyone had decided to stay home. Coral wished she'd done the same; her head was pounding from being hit with the gun and her shoulder wound hurt like a bitch. Snatching several boxes of strong painkillers from a shelf, Coral made her way to the till.

There was a short line, so the Inkling busied herself with looking out of the window while she waited. It was rather downcast, with iron grey clouds blocking out the blue sky, of which not a hint was to be seen. Coral preferred it this way; it was staying-in weather, and staying-in weather meant warm blankets, books, a hot drink. Now, more than ever, Coral wished she was indoors. The attack last night had left her terrified; she only left the house because she'd run out of toilet roll.

The line slowly moved, and Coral shuffled up with it, still absentmindedly staring out the window. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of movement, and her eyes flickered to where it came from. A figure was creeping along behind one of the other shops, clearly trying its best to not be seen. Coral watched as it turned its head and met her gaze. The Inkling couldn't see its eyes through its strange goggles, but she knew it, too, was staring in complete disbelief.

It was the Octoling.

Alda couldn't believe it. That damn Inkling! How was it walking around as if Alda hadn't shot it at all!? The Octoling tore her gaze away and dashed out of the Inkling's line of sight.

All Alda wanted to do was steal some food and leave, but no, that DAMN INKLING had to appear AGAIN.

But then again, Alda thought, this creature could be useful to her. Maybe if she won it over, it would tell her all the Inkling's secrets! Then Alda could go home and report her findings to the generals - that was why she'd come here, right? And besides, the Octoling had found herself in a bit of a predicament. Inkopolis was a lot more chaotic than home was, and Alda was unable to navigate as easily as she could at home. The twisty roads, labyrinth-like settlements and really terrible architecture had led Alda astray from her mission. She was... lost.

She gritted her teeth. No, she wasn't lost! She couldn't be lost! If she was lost, then that meant that her 'mission' would fail, she would be captured and killed by an Inkling, and she'd never… she'd never…

Alda made up her mind. Watching the Inkling leaving the shop with several grocery bags, she snuck around one of the building silently and followed her. The Inkling was unaware of her presence, so Alda allowed herself to creep closer.

This carried on for about ten minutes, with Alda darting behind houses and into alleyways to avoid being seen. But the Octoling had had enough. Once she was sure no-one was around, she reached out and seized the Inkling's arm, pulling it into a nearby alley. She then slammed a hand over its mouth, muffling its cries.

"Listen," Alda hissed. "If you scream, I'll knock you out. Understand?" She realised she should've probably given a death threat, but the Inkling nodded anyway. "Good. I'm going to take my hand off now. If you run, you'll be dead before you have even taken a step." That was better.

The Inkling trembled, but stayed where it was as Alda removed her hand. It eyed the grocery bags it'd dropped with remorse. Packets of food had been scattered across the pavement.

"Sorry about that," Alda muttered. No! What was she apologizing for? Just get on with it! "Listen up, Inkling. I, uh, need your assistance."

The Inkling spoke up for the first time. "Why would you need my help? Besides, didn't you try to murder me last night?" Its voice shook a little, and, despite its confident words, Alda could tell it was scared.

The Octoling scowled beneath her mask. "So what? I spared your life, didn't I?"

"That doesn't really matter when I'm left with a hole in my shoulder," came the reply.

"Fine! So I tried to kill you! Can we just forget about that, for the moment?"

"My shoulder's having a hard time forgetting."

"You're insufferable! Can you help me or can't you?!"

"You just called me insufferable. I feel less inclined to help you now."

Alda was rather wishing she'd killed this Inkling last night. "Fine, I take it back. You're clearly a lovely, sweet, kind person. Now will you help me?"

"You're being sarcastic."

"I'm not!"

There was a pause. Then, "if I help you, you have to promise not to kill me. Oh, and you have to pick up my shopping." The Inkling pointed.

"Fine," Alda growled, and stomped over to pick up the dropped groceries. Inklings were, apparently, a lot worse than Alda had previously thought.

Once the items had been returned to the carrier bags, the Octoling picked them up and shoved them at the Inkling without looking.

"So," said the Inkling, "what exactly is it you need help with?"

"Well, I..." the Octoling seemed to be struggling to find the right words. "I - this city is all over the place! I can't... I can't find my way around."

There was a pause, and then Coral burst out laughing. "You mean," she wheezed, "you're lost?"

This was too good. Coral realised that the situation wasn't entirely safe (the Octoling looked ready to murder), but she couldn't help herself. An Octoling, a dangerous, murderous creature - lost.

"This isn't funny!"

Coral forced her laughter to die down, still giggling into her hand. "Right, right, I'm sorry."

"You better be," the Octoling muttered.

Coral ignored this, and continued speaking. "I can help you, of course, but I should probably introduce myself first! My name's Coral, what's yours?"

"Alda," came the one word reply.

Coral smiled nervously. "It's nice to meet you! So, uh, I guess you don't have a place to stay, right?"

Alda shook her head.

"We, uh, we can go back to my place! I need to put all this away" - Coral gestured to the shopping bags - "so I was heading there, anyway. And it's out of the way, so no-one will see you."

"Sounds great. Can we go, already? I'm kinda tired."

"That's probably because you used up all your energy trying to murder me," Coral noted, and started walking in the direction she'd been heading.

Alda followed. "Can you stop talking about that already?!" The pair bickered light-heartedly the entire way back, and Alda found herself at ease, for once in her entire life


End file.
